


Cat-and-Tori

by Lif61 (UltimateFandomTrash)



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Tori Vega, off-screen violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24239002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateFandomTrash/pseuds/Lif61
Summary: Cat shows up at Tori's house at 3:00 in the morning, desperately needing some help.
Relationships: Beck Oliver/Jade West, Tori Vega & Cat Valentine
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Cat-and-Tori

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Why did I write this?  
> 2\. In 3x03 "The Worst Couple," when Beck and Jade were fighting in the janitor's closet with Cat present, Cat had a panic attack and fainted. She also kept repeating fervently that she was under her bed, which is clearly her safe space. To me, this really implied that her parents are abusive.  
> 3\. I really just wanted to try out all the different voices. They're fun characters.  
> 4\. I think you can buy a lightsaber and still be a mature adult.  
> 5\. I tried to do research for this, but a lot of the complicated stuff is off-screen. I just wanted to focus on the emotions.  
> 6\. The title is a goof on the idiom cat-and-mouse.  
> 7\. Don't duct tape your sister in her room.  
> 8\. I think this would be the length of a 23 minute episode, so yay!  
> 9\. _Here I am, once again..._

**TORI VEGA:**

**I want to SLEEP!!! TRINA snores.**

**FEELING: Tired**

**  
  
**

God, it was _3:00 A.M._ What in the chiz was the doorbell doing _ringing?_ Tori pulled her sheet and comforter up over her head, hoping that if she ignored the sound it’d go away. Maybe whoever was at the door would get bored.

Her PearPhone _dinged_ with a text message.

“Oh, dang it!” Tori cried, giving in and turning on the lamp on her bedside table before putting on her glasses.

She got her phone, and read the message. It was from an unknown number: **_Hi! It’s me! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3_ **

Tori raised an eyebrow at it. The doorbell rang again.

She started muttering angrily under her breath as she got out of bed and did her best to get her hair out of its state of disarray. It did not want to _array_ , and the doorbell rang one more time.

“Hold your chiz!” she cried, no longer caring if she woke up Trina, whose bedroom was right across the hall. Why couldn’t _Trina_ be the one to wake up and get the door?

_Uuueerrrrhhhmmm!_

Yep, that sound had just come from Tori’s mouth, and she thought, _Go away, person-who-hates-sleep!_

She left her room, and eyed her sister’s door for a bit, considering barging in and telling her that she had to be the one to see who was outside. Trina would do it to her. But _oh_ , Tori was too tired to be petty.

When she went downstairs, she turned on the light, and went over to the front door. Tori put her hand on the handle and asked, “Did you go away already?”

_Ding! Dong!_

“Are you a murderer?” she asked. “‘Cause if you are, Trina’s room is upstairs and down the hall to the right.”

A familiar, soft, high-pitched voice came through the door. “Tori, it’s me.” Tori groaned and then opened it for Cat. She was holding up a PearPhone, but not her familiar pink one. “I sent you a text,” she told her.

“From an unknown number?”

“It’s my brother’s.”

Cat lowered the phone, along with her head, and pulled one of her sleeves up over her hand. She twisted her body to-and-fro, hair swishing. And Tori took in the sight of her tiny, red-headed friend. She was still dressed — not in the outfit she’d worn to school, something cozier — and her makeup had yet to be washed off. There were dark smudges underneath her eyes from her eyeliner and mascara. Cat was pouting.

“Can I stay here tonight?” Cat asked, voice small and nearly a squeak.

“Uh…” Tori didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to turn her friend away, but this was pretty strange.

“ _Ple-ease_ ,” Cat begged.

Tori held the door open further, and Cat came in. She didn’t bounce while doing it or make any exclamation of excitement as was her usual. She trudged in past her.

After closing the door, she asked, “Okay, Cat, what’s wrong?”

She had tossed the-PearPhone-that-was- _not_ -hers onto the nearest couch and now she was toying with her hair.

In a quiet — almost too quiet — voice, she answered, “My brother got shot again.”

“Cat! Oh my god. And are your parents at the hospital with him?”

“Visiting hours ended.”

“But they were with him earlier?”

Cat finally looked at her. “I didn’t say that.”

“What—What happened?” Tori asked, running a hand through her hair, now making it even less _arrayed_ than before.

Cat just pointed at Tori’s face. “You’re wearing glasses.”

Tori started nodding. “Yeah, I know. So do you want to talk about it?”

“About your glasses?”

“No, about…”

“Oh.” Her friend was then silent for a long time, which was weird for her, but she finally said, “So my brother was on my neighbor’s roof because he thought he saw a dog—”

“On the _roof?_ ”

She flapped her hand angrily at her. “Let me finish!”

“Sorry.” Tori gestured forward with her hand, a sign for Cat to continue.

“He went to go see the dog which was really a homeless possum,” — (Tori wasn’t about to point out that by Cat’s standards, all possums were homeless) — “and this little boy came out from across the street. I don’t think he saw my brother.”

“So a little boy had a _gun?_ ” Tori asked, trying to piece this all together. Cat’s brother was notorious for racking up trauma, but it was clear that Cat loved him.

Her friend went on, “I didn’t say that.”

Tori didn’t want to get frustrated with her, not when she’d so clearly been crying, but she couldn’t help the annoyed look she gave her that said: _Get to the point._

“He had a bow, but not the kind you put in your hair,” Cat finished.

“And he _shot_ your brother?”

“I didn’t—” Cat began.

“Okay, okay,” Tori interrupted. “Then who shot your brother?”

Cat went silent, and had started humming to herself. Was that _Tell Me That You Love Me_?

“Cat?”

She jumped and eyed Tori with hurt and alarm. “What-ee?”

She looked so distressed that, Tori, despite her burning curiosity, let it go, and held her arms out. “Hug?”

Cat let out a distressed squeak and ran right into Tori’s arms.

“You want me to make you some hot cocoa?”

“Mm-hmm.”

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**Hmm… Guess I’m NEVER gonna take up ARCHERY. HOT COCOA time!**

**FEELING: Chocolatey**

**  
  
**

“If your parents are home, why do you need a place to stay?” Tori asked Cat, watching as she repeatedly took forceful, but tiny, sips of the hot cocoa Tori had made her. Tori hadn’t really dranken from her own mug yet, stomach wound too tightly with anxiety for her friend. “Wouldn’t you, I don’t know, rather be with them?” she finished.

Cat looked at her with wide eyes over her mug. This time she took a _really_ long sip.

Tori wasn’t going to press it, so she said, “Alright, uh, I have pajamas you can borrow. We can set up blankets and pillows and camp out down here.”

“What about your room?”

“Trina snores,” Tori bemoaned.

“My brother snores. His special doctor tells him it’s because his nasal passages are too small, but I think it’s because he snorts cinnamon. And...” She trailed off, and it was impossible to ignore the way her face fell and she started sniffling. Tori didn’t bring attention to it, realizing that Cat wasn’t her usual talkative self, not even when it came to her strange, mysterious brother. “I want Mr. Purple,” she whined.

Mr. Purple was one of Cat’s many stuffed giraffes. Robbie had told Tori that it roared, but she’d never heard it for herself. But, she did know her friend well enough to realize what she was talking about.

“Why didn’t you bring him?”

“Because I didn’t think to, okay!” Cat snapped at her so loudly Tori scooted away on the couch and laughed nervously.

“Sorry, sorry! You know I love you.”

Cat gave a faint smile. “Hmm, you do.”

After placing her mug of barely-touched cocoa down on the coffee table, Tori got up, announcing, “I’ll go get the stuff for the sleepover.”

Cat rubbed her pointer finger over the red heart on her mug, murmuring, “I like sleepovers.” And for now, Tori left it at that.

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**Anyone KNOW how to help a feisty, sad RED-HEAD at 3:00 AM? SLEEPOVER?**

**FEELING: Curious**

**  
  
**

It was dark, the lights blessedly turned out, and Tori and Cat were lying on the couches in the living room. They faced opposite ends so that their heads were close together.

Tori had started dozing off when Cat’s voice sounded in the too-early morning quiet. The birds hadn’t even started singing yet, for crying out loud! But that was Tori’s lack of sleep butting in and trying to run the show. Really, she wanted to stay up all night for Cat if that’s what she needed — if she could even manage that after a night out at Nózu. Cat had said: “My parents are mean.”

Tori tilted her head back, over the edge of the couch, trying to see her. Without glasses or contacts, she couldn’t see much, just a blurry lump that might’ve been red.

“They’re mean?” Tori asked in as compassionate a voice as possible, heart breaking in two from the way Cat had said it.

“I stay in my room a lot,” Cat went on. “Sometimes under my bed.”

“Is it…” Tori didn’t know what to ask, so she finished lamely, “...cozy down there?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“Aw, Cat, I didn’t know all this was going on.”

“It’s okay. Lane doesn’t either.”

“Shouldn’t you, maybe, talk to him?”

“About what?”

Tori was too upset to smile at Cat acting like her old self again. Really, she just wanted to curl up on the couch with her and protect her from the world. She was so small, and Tori loved her so much.

“Your parents.”

There was a sound of hair swishing against fabric, as if Cat was vigorously shaking her head.

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone they’re… mean.”

“How bad is it?”

“You know how Beck and Jade fight?”

“Yeah?”

“Well it’s nothing like that.”

Tori couldn’t follow, but just assumed Cat had been through some bad stuff. That could explain a _lot_ about her somewhat… airy way of being. The poor thing was probably dissociating half the time.

“Is there anything I can do?”

Something shifted. It took Tori a few seconds to realize that Cat was now hanging her head off the end of the other couch to look back at her. She just simply said, voice sweeter than ever, “You are doing something.”

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**HELP. I just found something OUT. I don’t KNOW what to DO! CAT!**

**FEELING: Buggin’**

**  
  
**

Tori was upstairs, getting out of the shower. She was wrapped in towels when her mom knocked and then came in without awaiting an answer.

“Sweetie, why is Cat on our couch?”

“Is Trina up?” Tori asked with a yawn.

“Think so.”

Tori stood on her tiptoes and peeked out into the hall. She couldn’t _see_ Trina, but her sister wasn’t to be trusted. She beckoned her mom in with a hand.

“Cat… told me something last night,” Tori shared once the door was closed. “I don’t think she’d want me to tell you, but… you’re the adult in the house.”

“What about your father?”

“Didn’t he buy a lightsaber from Wanko’s Warehouse last week?”

Her mom crossed her arms, an obvious yes. “Only adult in the house. Go on.”

Tori turned away from her mom, even as she felt the towel holding her hair up shifting, threatening to let loose.

“So… uh… Well… m-mm!”

“Tori, sometime before I die please.”

Tori turned, throwing finger guns up at her. “But you’re not gonna die today,” she sang awkwardly. Her towel almost slipped, and while she didn’t care much, she now used a hand to hold it up.

“Fine, then before Trina realizes we’re congregating without her.”

Tori winced in an over-exaggerated way, then answered, “Okay, so Cat said her parents are… mean.”

“Mean? What does—”

“I think she meant… abusive.” Her voice was a whisper on the last word, not wanting to believe it.

“Oh my god, is she okay?”

There was a knock on the door, and it cracked open. Tori threw her arm out in exasperation when her dad’s head peeked through.

“Do you two know how to give me a _little_ privacy?”

“Ah. Right.” Her dad closed the door. He asked through the wood, “Any reason there’s red hair on our couch?”

“ _Please_ tell me there’s a body attached to it!”

“Uh…”

Tori and her mom shared perplexed looks as her dad’s footsteps sounded farther down the hall. Silence, then he was back. “There’s a body attached to it.”

Tori sighed, rubbing her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. It was _too early_ for this.

“That would be Cat.”

The door opened again and he came in.

“Dude!”

“Dude?”

“Dad!”

Trina started pushing the door open. “Hey, what is everyone doing in the—”

“Get out!” all three of them called at once.

“But—”

Tori started stamping her feet and screaming wordlessly at her. The door closed. She raised an eyebrow at both her parents.

“Honey, I think she means us too.”

Tori gave them a smile that said she would commit at least two murders if they didn’t leave her to actually put some real clothes on. (Towels, no matter _how_ fluffy they were, did _not_ count.) They left, and Tori sat down on the edge of the bathtub, letting out a heavy sigh. Oh jammit, how was Cat even expected to go to school today? Tori contemplated suggesting they both ditch, but Cat would be scandalized.

She hung her head and moaned.

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**MOM, DAD, TRINA! I need PRIVACY! TOWELS aren’t CLOTHES!**

**FEELING: Peeved Out**

**  
  
**

Cat was playing with her food. How she managed to do that when it was cereal dripping milk without making a mess, Tori had no idea. And observing her just left her more confused.

Cat held out a Krunch Kookie.

“ _This_ is Mr. Banana Man!”

“But he’s a Krunch Kookie.”

Cat gasped, and hid “him” from sight by covering “him” with a hand. She leaned in and whispered, “Tori, Mr. Krunch Kookie was his father.”

“Does Mr. Banana Man know he’s going to get eaten?”

Cat shot her an exasperated look. “He does _now._ ”

In a flash, she popped the cereal into her mouth. Tori laughed with her, wanting to be as accommodating as possible. At the moment, her parents were in their bedroom, her dad on the phone with someone from the station. What they could be discussing, Tori had no idea, but the Krunch Kookies in her stomach really didn’t like that she’d told them about Cat’s parents.

Cat _finally_ picked up a spoon and started eating normally.

“So where’s Trina?”

Tori leaned back, headache returning.

“I duct taped her door shut.”

“How will she get out?”

“There’s a window!” Tori reasoned.

“Ooh! You’re right. Your house _does_ have windows.”

“Uh huh. So, you still want to go to school today?”

“Why wouldn’t we go to school?”

“Because of your brother.”

“What, it’s not like we have to babysit him.”

“But—”

“The doctors are taking care of him, silly!”

The PearPhone lying facedown on the table beside Cat _dinged_. She squealed and picked it up, _clacks_ sounding as she tapped out a text.

“Who is it?”

“My brother’s friend Jett. He’s asking where the french fry is.”

“Do you _know_ where the french fry is?”

What was even happening anymore?

Cat shot Tori a look like she was stupid. “Duh, it’s in his sock drawer right next to the—”

_Ding!_

“Ooh, text!”

But instead of responding Cat just put the PearPhone down. Tori wasn’t even going to bother asking about it, so she instead asked, “Hey, where’s your phone anyway?”

“So when the bow shot my brother, he had it in his pocket because he thought it was a walnut—” 

“A _walnut?_ ”

Cat nodded. “Mm-hmm, and now it’s broken.”

Yep. She hadn’t followed.

Tori opened her mouth, deciding it needed cereal in it, but then a song started playing from Cat’s brother’s PearPhone. She held it up, pursing her lips as she started dancing in her seat. The song sounded like some dinky tune from a kid’s show. Tori was too busy screaming in alarm and throwing her spoon — milk, Krunch Kookies, and all — across the room to try listening to the song more.

Cat announced, “ _Medicine time!_ ”

“Oh my god, Cat!”

“What-ee?”

“Turn it off! You scared the chiz out of me.”

Cat started looking around, high-pitched synth chords still playing in _staccato_ s.

“Wait, you have a German sausage? I don’t _see_ it.”

“Cat, please.”

“Kay kay!”

She turned it off, and sat there. Tori got up to get herself another spoon, but Cat held hers out, offering, “Here, you can use mine.”

“No thanks, I’m good.”

She pouted. “But it was only in my mouth.”

“Yep. So keep your mouth germs on the spoon, and in your mouth.”

Cat dropped her spoon and it _clattered_ to the floor. She held her hands up to her face. “There are _germs_ in my _mouth?_ ”

“I’ll get you another spoon.”

“ _Kay._ ”

Tori fished the spoons out of a drawer.

“Is your medicine with you?”

“What medicine?”

“You said _medicine time!_ ” Tori sang the last two words, hands out, spoons clasped in them, as she did her best to imitate Cat.

“Oh, my brother’s. Not mine.”

There was a loud _thump_ from outside, followed by a cry that was incredibly Trina-sounding. Either that, or it was a bird with one ugly song.

“Tori, what was that!” her mom called.

Tori put the spoons in one hand and rushed over to grab Cat’s wrist.

“Hey, you want to go to school?”

“Can we take the spoons?”

Tori didn’t pause, just handed them to her friend, and rushed out the door. Who needed backpacks anyway, right? _Right?_ They had spoons!

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**I have SPOONS! Where’s the FRENCH FRY?**

**FEELING: Spoonie**

**  
  
**

Cat and Tori walked in through the main entrance of Hollywood Arts. Students had time before class to pull themselves together, maybe rehearse some things, create art. It was a bit of a freebie. Her friends were congregated near Jade’s locker of horrifying and much too sharp scissors. Jade, as per usual, was hanging off of Beck, both of them sipping from coffee cups. André and Robbie seemed to be having an intense discussion, and Rex would break into the conversation from time to time to tell Robbie he was stupid. So… the usual.

“Hey, hey!” Tori greeted, coming over.

A mix of various greetings met her, and as they quieted down, Jade said, “Go! Home!”

Tori put a hand at her waist, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, nice to see you too.”

“Oh, you know it is,” she instantly responded, giving her a smile that said she liked her a bit more than she let on, or was promising to murder her and bury her in her backyard under her mom’s marigolds. Jade didn’t like _anyone_ , so it was obviously the latter. _Hi, marigolds. Don’t mind me. Just using my corpse to fertilize the earth._

Beck lightly tapped Jade’s arm, a sign for her to stop, and she glared daggers at him. She kept that up till he started running a hand through her dark and colorful hair.

“What’s up, amigas?” André greeted.

Cat put herself behind Tori just a bit, and exclaimed, “I-didn’t-stay-at-Tori’s-house-last-night!”

Her friends frowned.

“Cat?” Jade asked.

“Mm, what?”

“Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

Robbie cut in: “You said you didn’t stay at Tori’s house last night.”

“Because I didn’t,” she answered in a somewhat defeated tone.

“Oh, didn’t you?”

“Look, Jade,” Beck began, “why are we even bothering with this?”

“I don’t want people I know lying to me.”

“ _You_ lie!” André argued.

Jade sipped her coffee, flashing a wicked grin. “I didn’t say I couldn’t. You just can’t.”

“Or what?” Robbie challenged, though he didn’t seem all too tough in a button-up shirt, and cuffed jeans, and his hand crammed up a puppet.

Jade snarled at him and bit at the air.

André did a full body shrug, eyes wide, and Rex made some comment about girls being crazy, which made Tori go over and thump him on the head.

They started having a conversation about their assignments for Sikowitz’s class (which Tori had left at home in her backpack). ( _Uggghhhhh!_ ) Jade interrupted it all, asking Cat, “So _did you_ or _did you not_ stay at Tori’s house last night?”

Cat squeaked, seeming to panic, and in a flash she jumped on Tori’s back. In her surprise, Tori almost fell to the floor. Cat firmly wrapped her arms around her, and she had no choice but to hold her legs, or else they’d both fall.

“Mush!” Cat yelled.

“Cat!”

“ _Mush!_ ”

Not thinking, feeling Cat’s panic, Tori howled since that was probably what was wanted, and she started running away. Their friends called after them, but Cat was directing her away by pointing her feet. They left them behind, everyone in the halls staring for a few seconds before going back to their insane creativity.

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**AWOOOO!!! MUSH! I’m carrying a GIRL on my BACK.**

**FEELING: Confusion**

**  
  
**

“I can take you home if you want,” Tori offered.

Cat had directed her to the black box theatre, and they were sitting high up on the catwalk. Cat’s legs were stretched out in front of her while Tori sat cross-legged.

Cat played with her hair as she shook her head.

“No, I can’t go there.”

“Aren’t your parents at work?”

Cat flinched at the mention of them.

“Yeah, but… It’s like they’re still there when I’m home.”

Tori frowned, realizing that Cat meant home was just a scary place for her.

“God, Cat, is there _anything_ I can do?”

“They’re just like that.”

“Have they… hurt you? Physically?”

She shrugged with one shoulder, not facing her. “Not since last week.”

“Wait, is that why you got mad when Robbie hugged you?”

She nodded fiercely. “My dad hurt my tummy. Mom yelled at me.”

Tori went over and sat beside Cat, wrapping an arm around her.

“I’m sorry.”

Cat pouted, sniffling. “It’s okay. You didn’t do it.”

Tori’s PearPhone started ringing, and she extricated herself from Cat to grab it, giving her an apologetic look. Seeing it was her dad, she went down the catwalk and backstage before answering. Was she about to get in trouble for Trina? Or was this about Cat?

“Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

“I filed a report with CPS.”

“CPS…?”

“Child Protective Services.”

“Oh my god, Dad, is it that bad?”

“Well, of course, first we need a social worker to observe Cat in her home with her family.”

Tori hung her head, moaning in distress. Tears pricked in her eyes, all of this suddenly becoming too real. Her legs felt weak, and she braced herself with the rope for the curtains. They consequently started closing, she fell as she went off balance, and she ended up on the hard floor on her butt. Her tailbone throbbed.

“Tori, are you okay?” her dad asked, panicked after hearing Tori let out a cry.

She straightened and just scooted across the floor till her back was against the wall. She pat it, telling it, “Nice wall.”

“Tori?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” She inhaled deeply, but the breath didn’t want to leave her, just stayed in till her lungs pounded. Finally she questioned, distressed, “Dad, they’re not gonna take her away, are they?”

“I don’t know, sweetie.”

“But they can’t!” Tori argued, tone indignant. “Just—Just tell them she’ll stay with us.”

“We’re not her family.”

“She doesn’t _have_ other family that could look out for her. Trust me, if you heard the stories from her you’d know putting her with anyone else would be a bad idea.”

“Then CPS could go to court and decide she needs to be in a foster home.”

“But she’s gonna be seventeen soon! Isn’t that too late for a foster home?”

Her dad sighed. “It’s not.”

Tori groaned. “Dad, I don’t want to lose my friend.”

“I want to promise that you won’t, sweetie. But I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Dad!” Tori cried, a tear rolling down her cheek and to her top lip, where from there it made its way into her mouth. Bitter salt was on her tongue. “Aren’t foster homes, like, I don’t know, _really dangerous?_ ”

“They can be,” came her dad’s solemn answer.

“Is there _anything else_ we can do? That _she_ can do?”

“There’s emancipation.”

“Isn’t she too… fragile for that?”

“These are just options.”

“Yeah, not _good ones!_ I just want her to be okay.”

“Me too, honey. Me too.”

“Can she just stay with us? Please?”

“If we don’t get her parents’ permission they could report us for kidnapping. And they might. A lot of abusive parents do that when their kids get away to safety.”

Tori leaned her head back against the wall too hard, but didn’t even mind the pain.

“Just a few nights?” she bargained.

“Alright, darling, a few nights. It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

Tori didn’t believe him, but she let the conversation end. She dabbed under her eyes with the tips of her fingers, trying to dry tears without smearing her eyeliner and mascara. The mascara was more at risk. Thanks to times she’d done her makeup with Cat, she now put on a lot. Not as much as her friend, but enough to make crying a pain in the chiznuts.

Thinking she probably looked okay now — _hoping_ that she looked okay — Tori went back up to the catwalk. Cat was rocking back and forth to some song that must’ve been stuck in her head.

“Hey, Cat, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. I’m just… scared. I shouldn’t have told you.”

“No, no. I’m glad you did.”

Tori _was_ glad for that, she just sorely regretted telling her family. Cat started playing with the spoons she’d put in her pocket earlier, whacking them together and then against her thigh. She was starting to make a beat. She wasn’t as good as André, but Tori could easily hear the talent in her.

“Do you know if your brother’s going to be okay?”

“Oh yeah. The arrow only hit his appendix. Humans don’t even need those anyway. Isn’t that _so weird?_ ”

“Uh huh.”

“Do you still have _your_ appendix?”

Tori patted her abdomen over her right hip.

“Yep. All organs still there.”

“Then don’t tell Jade.”

“ _What?_ ” No. No, that was _not_ alarm in her voice or striking cold in her body.

Cat shrugged, banged the spoons together.

“She has scissors.”

“That doesn’t mean she wants my appendix,” Tori argued.

“Why wouldn’t she? I’m sure you have a pretty appendix.”

Tori raised her eyebrows.

“Like your face,” Cat went on, batting her eyelashes at her. “Your face is pretty.”

“Uh… thank you? But look, Cat, if you want to talk about your parents more, I’m here.”

“And you won’t tell anyone?”

Tori’s stomach hurt. She lied. “Never.”

Cat rested herself in Tori’s lap, looking exhausted, even as she was breathing too quickly.

“I want everything to be okay.”

Tori pat her head. “It will be,” she assured. “It will be.”

Cat whacked at Tori’s appendix with a spoon, making them both laugh.

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHHYYYYY??? JADE, don’t take my APPENDIX.**

**FEELING: Disturbed**

**  
  
**

“So I get to stay with you another night?” Cat asked, now in Tori’s living room.

Tori nodded, and Cat jumped a bit, but that was all. Her face quickly fell, and then she sat down on the couch closest to the door, hard.

“Tori, I can’t live here forever.”

Tori took a seat beside her.

“I know. I know. This is just until we can figure something out.”

“Figure what out?”

Cat was now looking at her with those big eyes. Somehow so innocent yet so pained at the same time. How had Tori never noticed? How had none of them noticed? The dissociation, the child-like regression in behavior, the panic attacks. That was all just… Cat. Wasn’t it? But how had they missed it all? _How?_ Did they not care about her like they thought they did? Did _Tori_ not really care about her or know her friend? All these thoughts drove spikes into her stomach, and made her regret salad with big lettuce for lunch.

“Cat… your parents…” Tori started lamely. “They’re not good people. I just want to find a way to keep you safe.”

Cat whined, and got up, started pacing.

“There isn’t a safe space, Tori! Not here, not at home, not at the hospital with my brother whose blood got all over our driveway! I can hide under my bed, I can hide under your bed — any bed! But it’s _not. Safe._ ”

“Cat, it’s okay,” Tori tried assuring, going over to grab her shoulders.

Cat backed away, a vicious, hurt look on her face.

“Okay? Tori, do you even know what _okay_ means? Your okay is-is… this house, Trina being annoying, your parents being… I don’t know… your parents! And you have people that love you, an-and… and…” Cat was crying now, shoulders shaking with sobs. “I don’t.”

Silence struck between them, and spread out in a crushing wave.

Cat ended up on the floor, crying. Tori had no idea what to do. She’d seen her friend cry before, but not like this. Not over something so… dark. Oh god, Cat was a bright light in the world. How could anyone hurt her?

Slowly, not wanting to scare her, Tori took a seat beside her. She grabbed her hands, touch so gentle, wanting Cat to feel safe in this moment.

“You do,” Tori told her emphatically. “There’s someone who loves you _right here_ , sitting in front of you, holding your hands. And—And... you’re right. It’s not okay. And it’s okay that it’s not okay.” Cat frowned at her, and Tori went on, trying to save the conversation and not make things confusing, “You’re here right now. You’re not with them. And that’s what matters in this moment. Can you see that? Can you just... be here, with me, hanging out, doing homework, singing, getting ready for another sleepover?”

The frown on her face had turned into a pout, but there was a sad, but thankful smile in her eyes.

“I can do that. I can be here.”

“Good. Good. So uh… feeling up for physics homework?”

Cat stuck out her tongue. “I hate physics.”

“Everyone hates physics. That’s why it’s called physics.”

Tori got up, Cat following suit, and as they grabbed their bags (Tori had made a stop at Cat’s house to get her things) and set out the various papers and notebooks they needed. Tori opened her laptop, putting on some music written by André, keeping the volume low.

“I just don’t get why the electrons play hide and seek,” Cat complained. She lowered her voice dramatically, using her “man voice.” “Look at me, I’m matter. Oh, no I’m not. You turned your back. I’m a _wa-a-ave_.” She ended the sentence by doing the wave with her arms, and wobbling about. Cat lowered her arms, looking thoughtful. “Wait… does that mean that _life_ plays hide and seek?”

Tori reached out and pat her on the head.

“Don’t think too hard, Cat. I need you with your brain intact — well, as intact as it can be.”

Tori got out a pencil and started labeling capacitors on a circuit diagram, already getting frustrated with each part.

“Did you know that in Latin, intact is _intactus_?” For some reason Cat had put up air quotes as she said the last word. 

And Tori was shocked that she knew so much. Usually Cat was doing something to distract herself: buying things from the Sky Store, getting Jupiter Boots, carrying around a stereo she could plug her PearPhone into, playing with her stuffed animals, hanging out with Robbie, and André… It wasn’t often that she showed her intelligence. Tori really shouldn’t have been surprised. Cat had been the one to figure out how to use a hamster to generate electricity. But when asked about it, she just gave some crazy explanation for how it worked. Her mind was truly an enigma.

“No, Cat. No, I didn’t.”

Cat giggled. She deepened her voice again, making it rough and gravelly. With fists on her hips, back straight, she declared, “ _INTACTUS!_ ”

Tori joined in. “ _INTACTUS!_ ”

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**INTACTUS! Does ANYONE want to PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK? The ELECTRONS DO.**

**FEELING: Fueled**

**  
  
**

Cat stayed for dinner. She stayed for the night. She stayed for breakfast the next day. She went home with Tori after school. And the days passed like that. Tori had gone with Cat to talk to her parents, saying she and Tori were working on an acting project that involved cohabitation. She’d said they were “married.” (For a play.) She got her old phone fixed, traded out her brother’s, and Cat had even visited him. She hadn’t let Tori go with her though, leaving her brother as mysterious as before. But Cat seemed to be soothed after visiting him, seeing that he was okay. Apparently he’d gotten his appendix removed. Cat thought it was a good idea, and she kept poking over where her appendix was, laughing. And to Tori’s surprise, she was able to rein in her annoyance with Cat. She _was_ annoying. She was loud, talkative, bubbly. But that was Cat, and right now she needed Tori’s help. Tori started wishing that Cat could stay with them forever. The thought of her going back to parents who hurt her made Tori imagine being in her place. It was agony. And the threat of a foster home — a place with violent people who weren’t getting the mental help they needed, drugs, being treated poorly — still loomed. That _looming_ was larger than ever as the days went by. By Saturday, Tori and Cat had no energy left, and were just lying on the couches in bathrobes, lazing about in front of the TV with empty bottles of Joke-a-Cola.

_Sigh._

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**I don’t WANT CAT to go home. CAT I love YOU! TRINA if you’re READING this tell DAD I want TURKEY for DINNER. If you don’t… DUCT TAPE.**

**FEELING: Tapey**

**  
  
**

Next week came all too soon, and Tori’s dad had pulled Cat aside to talk to her about CPS… while he helped her pack her things.

Tori had gone up to her room, not allowed to listen in on the conversation, but soon, Cat was upstairs, tears in her eyes. She paced furiously, and how she did that in eight-inch heels, Tori had no idea. Her thumbs flew over the screen on her phone, tapping away.

“Come on, Cat. Please, talk to me.”

Eesh, that was whiny. But Tori was concerned.

“No! I hate you!”

“Cat!”

Tori got off her bed to try and hold Cat, but she started screaming, rushing away from her. Tori followed, determined to get her friend in place so maybe she could calm down.

Cat threw her phone under Tori’s bed, and then crawled under. Tori grabbed her calf just as she finished squeezing into the space. A light shone from underneath in the darkness. Cat was still texting.

Tori withdrew, kneeling. She ran her hands through her hair.

“Cat, I’m sorry.”

Texting.

“Cat!”

“You’re mean,” Cat accused, and seeing how she’d used that word to describe her abusive parents, it made Tori feel torn with guilt. “I told you something private. Private!”

“I just wanted to help.”

“Well, you didn’t. Now my brother’s gonna get taken to a special hospital, and I’m gonna get taken away. Do you hate me that much, Tori? Huh? _Huh?_ Did you want that to happen?”

“No, I didn—”

_Ding!_

“ _Who_ are you texting?”

It was silent beneath the bed, and Tori saw shifting shadows. Was Cat turned towards her now, more than before?

“Jade,” she answered, a level of snark in her voice that she’d never heard before.

“Why Jade?”

“Because she doesn’t like you either! And Beck has a car.”

“Where are you gonna go?”

Cat flipped up the edge of the comforter that was hanging down, head coming out from under the bed. Her tears hadn’t yet dried, and it looked like more were threatening to spill loose. Her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair.

“ _Home._ Apparently that’s where adults want me to go so they can decide to _take me away_.”

“No one’s gon—”

Cat was fully under the bed again.

Was her PearPhone _ringing?_

“Jade, you’re on speaker,” Cat said into the phone. “Tori is also in the room.”

“Uh… hi?”

“Tori?”

Jade’s voice. Oh no.

“Yeah?” Tori got out tentatively.

“You suck!”

The dial tone sounded. So Jade could hang up on her even if someone else had been the one to call.

“Ah. How eloquent,” Tori stated.

Cat poked her head out from under the bed again, tone threatening as she warned, “Don’t make up words.”

Tori wasn’t even going to bother arguing with that. Cat cried, and refused to come out from under the bed. Oh, what had Tori done?

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**BECK, where’s your car with yourself in it? SOMEONE get this RED-HEAD out from UNDER my BED.**

**FEELING: Guilty**

**  
  
**

Cat wasn’t at school. And the entire friend group knew what had happened. Subsequently, they were all complaining about it at lunch. Jade had said Tori was a gank, Rex had added that she was a _hot_ gank, and the rest didn’t seem to be upset with her, just… upset.

“Well what was I supposed to do?” Tori argued for the millionth time, doing her best to not throw her burrito at Jade.

“I mean, I would’ve just told Lane first,” André cut in.

Tori glared at him, and spat out sarcastically, “Thank you.”

André, not getting the sarcasm, responded, “Yeah, no problem.”

“I want Cat to be okay,” Robbie began, “but why did you even get involved?”

“Wouldn’t you?” she argued. “If that cute, little, red-head came to you in the middle of the night, _crying_ , wouldn’t you have wanted to do something?”

“She _is_ cute,” Robbie agreed, as if that somehow helped prove Tori’s point.

“Yeah, but crazy,” Rex argued.

Tori ripped off a chunk of her burrito and flung it at him.

“Robbie, the chick’s gone wild!”

“I have _not!_ ”

“Yeah, well Cat is gonna get taken away from her parents because of you,” André intoned.

Tori shook her burrito at him threateningly. “You want to get taken away from your parents?”

“Dang, girl, I was just—”

“You were just shutting up,” Beck told him.

André suddenly found his french fries very interesting. “Okay, yeah. I can do that.”

“I just don’t get it,” Jade said. “Why’d your dad have to tell CPS?”

“Because. My dad’s. A cop,” Tori pointed out for maybe the twentieth time.

“Cops are stupid,” Jade reasoned.

They all broke out bickering, and Tori couldn’t even really keep track of who she was arguing _with_. Their voices grew louder and louder, drawing attention from the other tables. Tori, while arguing with Robbie, looked to Beck to see if he could help shut them all up since he was pretty level-headed, but he was going at it with Rex, who was also going at it with Jade. André was trying to butt in on what Tori was saying, and now she was arguing with him too. Things got more intense, to the point where she could barely hear herself think, so she threw herself down on the table and started screaming.

The arguing stopped immediately.

Jade pulled her hair.

“Ow!” Tori complained, sitting up, consequently kicking Rex in the face. “You yanked on my hair.”

“Yeah, well your _hair_ was in my Greek salad.”

“What the heck did you do that for?” Beck accused of Tori launching herself on the table and screaming.

“I just wanted everyone to shut up.”

André pat her leg, Tori huffing and pulling her hair out of her face.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”

“That’s the problem — it’s not!” Tori complained. “Cat was hurting, and now she might be going to a foster home.”

“Yeah, where she’s gonna hurt worse!” Jade argued.

Tori wanted to tell her that that wasn’t necessarily true, but she was worried too. Instead, she asked, “Why do you care?”

“Because I like having special people around in case I ever want to test out how sharp my scissors are.” Jade looked her up and down. Tori raised an eyebrow. “You wanna be added to the list?”

Laughing nervously, she got off the table and took her seat again.

Robbie began, “Look, it doesn’t matter who is or who isn’t getting slashed with Jade’s scissors—”

“Yeah, it kinda does,” Tori interrupted.

At the same moment Jade argued, “My scissors think so.”

“I just know Cat is probably feeling really down,” Robbie continued.

Beck pat him on the shoulder, giving him a smile that said Robbie didn’t quite get the picture. “That’s one way to put it.

“Maybe we could visit her after school.”

“What, at her _house?_ ” Beck asked.

“Do you even know where she lives?” Jade questioned, tone sounding ready to mock and accuse.

“Yeah. She has me pick her up there sometimes.”

“And you wanna go over there now,” André stated, giving Robbie a blank look, french fry held in one hand.

“Yeah.”

“So you want to go to Cat’s house where, A, there’s an unstable red-head who needs to go up a dose on her meds, and B, her parents who might just beat you up on sight?” Jade tilted her head, shrugging, just now realizing what she’d said. “Yeah, I’m okay with it.”

Beck held out a hand, trying to placate everyone. “Look, no one’s getting beaten up. Till Cat wants to talk to us, let’s just give her some space.”

Tori sighed, defeated, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Cat would come back to school or call one of them eventually. Tori just wanted this to be over.

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**If I didn’t want my BURRITO so much, JADE’S face would BE IN it.**

**FEELING: Fighty**

**  
  
**

Cat showed up at her door a few days later. She hadn’t answered any texts or calls and had been silent on _TheSlap_. Sikowitz mentioned she was still turning in her assignments by emailing him videos and scripts. So she was present, but… not. Until she showed up at Tori’s door again. She didn’t look at her as Tori let her in, and she went over to sit on the table in the dining room. She played with the ends of her hair.

“Cat,” Tori began, guilt punching her up into her diaphragm, “I am _so. Sorry._ ”

“I’m going to a foster home,” Cat told her, ignoring what she’d said. “The court lady said my parents are _abusive_.” She held up air quotes while saying the last word.

“And how are you feeling about all this?”

Cat shrugged with one shoulder. “I get to stay at Hollywood Arts.”

“So that’s… good,” Tori tried.

“Hmm. Yeah.”

There was silence that took Tori’s stomach and twisted it in to some demented balloon animal. She picked at her fingers, as she tried to think of what to say to break to end the quiet around them.

“And… uh… you’re here because…?”

Cat finally looked at her. Her eyes were glazed over, empty, like she was holding back emotion, or had already let it all out.

“You did this to me,” she accused.

Tori sighed. “Cat, I know. I just wanted to help. I wanted you to be safe.”

“Good for you,” Cat argued, probably thinking that had made sense. Still, there wasn’t as much of a fight in her as there had been that day under Tori’s bed. “I’ll be farther away,” she went on. “I just wanted to say bye.”

“But it won’t be bye for good,” Tori reasoned. “Right? We’ll still see you?”

Cat glanced at her like maybe Tori wasn’t on her list of people she wanted to see. Then she ordered, “Mass text the friend group.”

The balloon animal in her stomach popping, the release of air letting out a sharp pain in her abdomen, Tori took out her phone and started getting a group chat together.

“Mass texting the friend group.”

“Tell them to come over.”

“Telling them to come over.”

“And ask if they can bring donuts.”

“Asking if they can bring— Wait, why?”

“I’m hungry!”

Tori raised her eyebrows, thumbs tapping out her message, and ending it with: **_Cat’s hungry._ **

**  
  
**

**TORI VEGA:**

**Waiting for DONUTS. JADE please don’t BRING your SCISSORS.**

**FEELING: On Edge**

  
  


“So what’s this about?” Jade asked once they were all gathered in Tori’s house. Beck was searching the fridge for pink lemonade, André was trying a new onion dip Tori’s mom had bought, and Robbie was sitting on the table with Cat, rubbing her shoulder. She was eating a pink glazed donut with rainbow sprinkles.

“Cat, you want to explain?” Tori asked.

“Not really,” she said around a mouthful of donut. Silence. She let out a big sigh. “Fine.” She shoved another large bite in her mouth, making it hard to hear her next words: “I’m getting taken away.”

“Taken away?” Beck asked, peering out from the fridge. “A foster home?”

Cat nodded vigorously. Beck went over to hug her, Jade glaring at him as he did so. Tori watched the fight that ensued across their faces.

André came over to hold Cat as well, and Cat was now off the table, just wrapped up in their arms. She held her donut in her mouth, and it was getting crushed against Beck’s shirt.

“It’s okay, Little Red. It’s gonna be okay.”

“You’re not gonna get hurt there,” Beck told her. “Your parents won’t be able to get you.”

“Don’t lie to her,” Jade said.

Beck shot back, “Yeah, really not helping.”

“Yeah, Jade,” Tori intoned. “ _Not_ helping.”

“I could help you over a cliff,” Jade suggested, crossing her arms, looking Tori up and down.

Not in the mood for any of Jade’s garbage, Tori pointed. “If you don’t care, there’s the door.”

Jade sat down on the couch, crossing her legs. “Maybe I do care. You don’t know.”

“Anyway,” Beck said to Cat, “you’re gonna be okay.”

Cat pulled back, finished her donut, and explained more about the situation, pointedly not looking at Tori. As she’d done so she’d taken all the sprinkles off another donut, put them in a pile, and then sorted them by color. She was putting a blue one in her mouth.

“See, baby, it’s not so bad,” André told her. “We’ll still be there for you.”

Cat made a disgusted face, and spit out the sprinkle. It bounced across the table, landing in front of Tori. _Uh… thanks?_

“Ew, I don’t like blue.”

“Try yellow,” Robbie suggested.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Even after she’d said that, she picked up a yellow one to try it.

In a very quiet voice, Cat admitted, “I love my parents.”

“That makes sense,” Robbie told her, voice gentle and understanding. “They’re your parents. And I’m sure it’s not all bad with them.”

“It’s not,” Cat admitted. “They let me dye my hair, and got me a credit card, and helped me name Mr. Purple.” She let out a heavy breath. “I’m gonna miss ‘em.”

Beck took her hand, and Jade was suddenly by his side, possessively wrapping her arms around him.

“I know,” he told her. “But you’re gonna be safe.”

“And we want you to be safe,” André said. “Ain’t nobody allowed to hurt our little Caterina Valentine.”

Cat clumped all the sprinkles together again. Her PearPhone started ringing. Looking crestfallen, she got up and took the call, going over to a corner. Everyone milled about anxiously, and Jade was biting her bottom lip.

For some reason, dread welled up in Tori as Cat hung up on the phone. She shuffled back over to them, bottom lip trembling. Her voice was an emotional squeak as she said, “I have to go.” She then went on to explain vaguely, “The court people.” But they all understood.

Tori tried to go in for a hug, but Cat pushed her away, and she let herself be wrapped up by the rest of their friends. Tori stood by, fighting back tears. It became Jade’s turn to hug Cat, and surprisingly, rather than trying to strangle her, or squish her to death, Jade held on tight.

Oh my god… were those… _tears?_ Was _Jade West crying?_

Cat finally pulled away from everybody, and the space between her and Tori seemed so huge, so empty, so longing of something to fill it. But the space grew bigger as Cat walked past her and left the house. A few minutes passed and the others left, and Tori was now all alone, sitting on the couch, crying.

A knock came.

Tori didn’t want any visitors, but then the doorbell rang. “It’s open!” she called, holding a tissue to her face to catch her tears. “What?” she asked, once she knew the person was inside. She started sobbing.

Her chest ached with loving disbelief as she heard a tiny voice say, “Tori.”

Tori lowered the tissue, and looked to the girl she was crying about. There were tears in her eyes, but she was holding them back. Cat started rushing over to Tori, and Tori, knowing what she wanted, rushed to her. They met in the middle, hugging each other tightly. Tori never wanted to let go, and it would be a long time before either of them did.


End file.
